Literally Hit By Love
by Neko-Neko Faust VIII
Summary: How do you know when you are in love? In this story, Johann Faust VIII finds out a whole new meaning to the phrase, "hit by love!"


Literally Hit By Love

A/N: This is just a short oneshot that popped into my strange head whilst I was _ignoring _my dear Spanish teacher, that subject is mandatory at our school until about…Oh, I'm afraid that I upset her, bless that woman…

Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King, bless my little heart…

To KagenoKatana: I know you haven't reviewed this story, but thank you for reviewing Darkened Whisper again! You are cool as well! As for me, I have been to Czechslovakia (for a wedding) Germany (I loved it there, I went for a christening!) and Wales (for an archeological dig with my father when I was not even a year old) …I live in the US, and that is all I will say for fear of icky stalkers…Thank you so much, and I know I may sound rather sappy, however, I almost feel as if we are friends, KagenoKatana! You are the best, and I haven't found any of your fics on Shaman King, so pleas tell me where they are, I want to read them so! I even looked on the Directory, but stupid NETSCAPE is evil and wouldn't let me!

An eight year old Johann Faust VIII was pouring over his medical books and doodling absentmindedly on the yellowed pages. His window was open, and the sun shone, filling his room with the scent of fresh summer air.

He came from quite a well-off family, his room was larger than most children's, though cluttered…But, even poor children whose parents possessed no money were still happy in the warm nook of family love, his was a different story, however.

His father, once a respected doctor, was aging, and a drunken boor of a man whose brilliance was wasted on drunken reveling and gambling…Behind him, stood his quiet mother, who was the only member of the family who would speak to the little boy without thinking him strange, he did not open his mouth much, anyway.

She did dote on her only child, whom she had at great expense to her frail body, though he was a bit odd and mature for his young age, she loved him very much….moreover, sometimes, which was a very welcomed treat for the aspiring doctor, when his father was not presnt, she would send him out to play with the only friend he had, a very, very sick girl named Eliza.

Eliza was a pretty little girl, five years old and cheerful…but she was always, much to her disfavor and Johann's worried disappointment, sick and confined to her bed in her parent's dark home, where her only portal to the real world outside was her open window.

Today was one of those blessed days, as lucky Johann had not expected.

He sat and daydreamed, tapping his worn down pencil on his desk to a rythym he had heard on the radio earlier, for a while, and suddenly, his gentle mother shuffled into the room.

"Johann dear, are you busy?" she asked rather shyly.

His mother was a small, warm-hearted woman who could not stand up to his domineering father in any way of her own. However, when it came to her child, she would do anything for him.

"Johann?" she repeated.

Johann gave a surprised start and turned around.

"Oh---mother? Uh-what is it? Is father home…?" Johann grimaced, he did not like his father much.

"Oh no Johann…he won't be back until at least midnight, you know how he is once he starts winning at the poker table." she sighed anxiously. "What I came to ask you is, would you like to go outside and play for a while until he comes home?"

Johann smiled at his mother ecstatically, "Yes!! Mom, can I go right now? It's such a sunny day outside and Eliza-"

His mother gave him a gentle smile, "Eliza? Oh, yes, she'll be outside today, don't you worry…I got a call from Chloe that she was feeling exceptionally strong today. You will probably see her in one way or another."

He abruptly stood up out of his stiff wooden chair and embraced his mother, she was so kind to him while anyone outside of his immediate family would not so much as give him an amicable glance.

His next few words, touching in their simplicity, were so cheerful and melded together that his mother could barely understand him.

"Okay mom, I going to go see Eliza now! I love you mom, bye!" exclaimed Johann, practically jumping down the staircase and almost forgetting to slip on some shoes.

"Be careful now!" she said to him as he left.

The woman heard the door shut with a happy slam, and grinned.

_Could it be that my son has fallen in love? _she thought to herself softly.

Johann ran around wildly, acting as if every little boy alive should be outside on this wonderful day on God's Green Earth.

His dirty-blonde hair blew in the warm breezes, and he ran toward the park, which today was unusually empty, save a small, pale, blonde, girl rocking gently back and forth on a swing.

_It's Eliza!_ he thought happily.

"Eliza! Eliza! Hey, it's me, Johann! Do you want to play together?" he gasped, catching his breath once he arrived at the swing set.

The little girl turned her head, "Oh Johann! It's you." she smiled, "Sure, I'll play with you…I thought you'd be out today, so I waited for you at the park, but you took so long I was getting ready to leave…" she trailed off with an adorable sigh, leaving the already blushing little boy an deeper shade of pink.

He smiled emphatically, "I'm sorry…my father couldn't leave fast enough I guess. But it doesn't matter if we're here already."

"Yes, that's true."

For a few moments, he wondered…_Why does Eliza want to spend time with me?_ Why would she want to spend her rare days of freedom with him? She was the only one that would talk to him, save his mother and few other family members, but until today he had assumed she was just being polite….Now he felt strange around her…_Why does she want to be with me?_

The little girl motioned toward the empty swing beside her, "Johann, get on a swing!"

He did, as if a robot, what she told him, and the two began to swing in unison, laughing and talking in only the way children could.

"Eliza…when I grow up and I'm a doctor, do you think I could cure you?" he said, watching the dimming light of the sun poke through the trees and project an emerald glow.

"I bet you could if you tried, and plus, by then we'll be grown up and maybe I will be better anyway." said she, turning her head to give him a reassuring glance.

The two children remained silent as they watched the sunset, darkly transluscent shades of crimson and rose, and bright, happy shades of orange and yellow filling the sky.

It was quiet, as the dusk grew a bit darker, until Johann decided to ask Eliza something he had been wondering for a long time then.

"Eliza…" he paused, thinking. "When we grow up, do you think we'll still be friends, no matter what?"

It took a while for her to answer, the question was as puzzling to her as it was to him, possibly more so, but the girl tried to answer her favorite boy's question as best she could.

"Well, I think we will…even when we're grown up and go to faraway places, I think we'll still be together, don't you?…You're my best friend."

Her simple answer gave him solace….his mind might have worked like an adult's, but not in this sense…and he knew it was true.

He put his arm around her shoulder, "You're my best friend, too."

They sat like like for what seemed like an eternity, until the crescent moon showed its face and the darkness of night spread across the once-brilliant sky.

Eliza began to swing again, and Johann sat in a daze, occasionally pushing up his oversized crimson glasses to keep them from falling to the darkened ground.

The monotonous rhythym made the night, which usually frightened the two children in their young age, seemed soft and caring like a mother's embrace.

It went on for a long time, dispelling the fears of the dark, and allowing the stars to shine brighter in the small town sky.

Suddenly, without any sort of preamble whatsoever, Eliza's moving swing collided with Johann's motionless one, sending the unfortunate boy flying off the swing.

He landed on his face, spitting dirt, in the cold grass that had just begun to collect dew, his glasses lying askew somewhere in the shrubs, and what seemed to be a ring of flashing stars swirling around his field of vision.

A strand of long blonde hair fell onto his right shoulder, and the twinkle of her moist blue eyes helped him to regain once again the sense of clear vision.

"Oh my gosh! Johann, are you okay?" she asked, her childish countenance troubled.

He gave her a self-conscious smiper, "Yes, at least I think I'm okay…but are you hurt? I would hate it if you did."

Eliza shook her head, "Oh, no, I'm fine…just a little cold…do you think we should head home now?"

He nodded and got up, still confused, but able to walk steadily enough.

Johann held his hand out, "Eliza, would you like it if I walked you home?"

"Yes, I would like that very much." she smiled and took his outstretched, trembling hand, and the two walked home, Johann still too wonderfully addled to fathom what exactly had happened to him.

Eliza opened the door to her house and began to walk up the stairs, but stopped in her tracks to thank the kind boy.

"Good night, Johann, I hope you're not hurt too bad…um…thank you for walking me home, I'll try to see you tommorrow if I feel well enough, alright?"

He grinned. "Goodnight Eliza, I'm glad we got to play together today…." Johann begun to leave, however, the blonde stopped him.

"Johann?" she asked.

He waited for a question, but nothing came. Only the thing that would be the happiest moment in his life so far.

The little girl stood on her tiptoes, almost eye-level with Johann, who was tall for his age, and gave him a flittering kiss on the cheek.

Johann was immeasureably thankful that the night was so pitch black, for he was blushing so deeply that his entire face was a shining red.

"Well-um-see you tommorrow, Johann…I hope you have sweet dreams!" trying hard not to notice the patches of rosy color on her own cheeks.

"Goodnight…um…Eliza!" he cried into the night, with a touch of nearly hysterical happiness in his voice.

And before he knew what had happened in that midnight, Johann Faust VIII was in the deepest love that could approach the human mind.

The Beginning

A/N: Short and sweet, ne? When I wrote this I felt so warm inside, and it made me so happy! I hope that one day I can make characters as a manga-ka that I can care about as much as I care about Faust and Eliza, it's my dream! If I work hard enough, I'll get to it someday, even if it takes sleepless nights, I shall make it! Why? Because I say I can….and if you have a dream, fairly soon it will not be a dream anymore, and it will be reality…unless you are like me, and enjoy to keep your dreams, even when you reach them, to keep your dreams still as dreamlike as possible so they do not lose their mystery!

PS: Faust's first name is Johann.

PSS: Thank you anyone who reviews and does not flame me.

PSSS: Forgive me for the trifle of a dream speech I fell into right there, it was terrible to push my beliefs onto you that way..I'm sorry.

Ja Ne

Neko-Neko Faust VIII


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